January 17, 2018 10:23am ESTJanuary 17, 2018 10:20am ESTThe Michigan musician has been accused in the past of racism, sexism and homophobia in his work and in his public statements.Kid Rock, nee Robert Ritchie(Getty Images)

The decision was immediately met with criticism. The Michigan musician has been accused in the past of racism, sexism and homophobia in his work and in his public statements. He has displayed the Confederate flag during many of his concert tours, and he made headlines for his profane comments about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Rock (real name Robert James Ritchie) has denied being racist.

"I love America, I love Detroit, and I love black people," he said in 2011 at the Detroit NAACP chapter's annual fundraiser.

A sample of the negative reactions on Twitter to Tuesday's news:

Minorities, people of color and women already feel like the NHL doesn't gaf about them. Having Kid Rock as the All-Star game entertainment just underlies that point.

NHL exec: "Hey! Let's unnecessarily align ourselves with a divisive performer in a politically sensitive time in exchange for songs at an intermission event that no one cares about for a sport that is generally not political."All: "this sounds like a good risk reward trade-off"

Y'all, I'm gonna say something buckwild here but I don't think the NHL can tout that #HockeyisforEveryone while also hiring Kid Rock who said “Why, these days, is everything so gay?” But hey, I'm sure it's just another one of those teachable moments right @YouCanPlayTeam?